Kaiser has warned patients that non-emergency and elective services may be rescheduled. It said it is onboarding professionals who will service in critical care roles during the strike. The health care provider has said its hospitals and emergency departments will remain open throughout the strike, staffed by physicians and other staff. Most Kaiser workers who have walked off the job will be on strike for three days, until Saturday morning - except those in Virginia and Washington D.C., who will be on strike for 24 hours. Kaiser, headquartered in Oakland, California, is one of the largest nonprofit health care providers in the United States, serving nearly 13 million patients. It is the biggest health care strike in U.S. Over 75,000 workers - including nurses, emergency department technicians, pharmacists and hundreds of others - went on strike in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

walked off the job on Wednesday morning, in an effort to ramp up pressure on their employer to fix a staffing shortage that has intensified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care workers at hundreds of Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical facilities across the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, putting 2023 on track to become the busiest year for strikes since 2019.Frontline health care workers hold a demonstration outside Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on September 4. Nearly 309,700 workers have been involved in work stoppages through August this year, according to U.S. labor market and inflation have led to contentious contract negotiations and strikes over pay and benefits for workers in numerous fields this year, including the automobile and entertainment industries. As a non-profit organization, it pays no income tax on its earnings and very limited property taxes.Ī tight U.S. Kaiser has reported profits of $3 billion in the first half of 2023 and over $24 billion over the last five years. Kaiser said it has offered across-the-board wage increases of 12.5% to 16% over four years, and says the company leads 'total compensation in every market where we operate.' Kaiser employs 68,000 nurses and 213,000 technicians, clerical workers and administrative staff, alongside 24,000 doctors. Staffing levels have been a major sticking point, with the union insisting Kaiser needs to hire 10,000 new healthcare workers to fill current vacancies. In Virginia and Washington, D.C., only optometrists and pharmacists would be on strike, but the impact on patients in California, Colorado, Oregon, and part of southwestern Washington state would be more substantial, she acknowledged. on Wednesday,' she said.Įven if there is a walkout, about 60% of Kaiser's workforce would remain on the job, as facilities in Georgia, Hawaii and most of Washington state would not be affected, a company spokesperson said. 'We remain optimistic that there is still an opportunity to reach a deal before any work stoppages begin at 6 a.m. 'Both management and union negotiators are on stand-by waiting for Kaiser executives to resolve their internal debate about whether to do what it takes to reach an agreement,' the union coalition's executive director, Caroline Lucas, said in a statement.Ī Kaiser spokesperson, Hilary Costa, disputed the union's assertion that negotiators were at a standstill.Ĭontract talks 'are ongoing,' she said, adding that Kaiser was 'available 24/7 to continue bargaining earnestly with the coalition until we reach a fair and equitable agreement.' More than 75,000 would be idled by a strike. Negotiations broke off on Tuesday afternoon, with 17 hours to go before the strike deadline, according to the union coalition, made up of locals representing 85,000 Kaiser employees. The previous four-year contract expired on Sept. Kaiser said its hospitals and emergency departments would remain open in the event of a strike, staffed by doctors, managers and other non-union 'contingency workers.'Īs of Tuesday, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said the healthcare giant had yet to offer acceptable terms to address severe staffing shortages, or to embrace adequate improvements in pay and benefits sought by the workers.

Union officials said the planned strike against Kaiser, one of the nation's leading not-for-profit healthcare networks and managed-care organizations, would mark the largest strike ever in the U.S.

Kaiser permanente strike